SCREAM 2 (M)
Director: Wes Craven
Bug rating: four out of five.

YOU can count the number of sequels I've enjoyed on one hand - the hand of a Freddie Kruger victim at that!

So I wasn’t expecting a great deal from Scream 2, the follow up to Wes Craven’s 1996 smash hit. The same premise, same this, same that. Boy, was I wrong!

Scream2, which reunites the original “Scream Team” of Craven, writer Kevin Williamson and producer Cathy Konrad, is every bit as hip, macabre and scary as the original.

It's not a better movie, but it is easily its predecessor’s equal. It is scary and gruesome, but it delivers the gore in a fresh and funny way, just like Scream, that will continue the rebirth of the slasher movie.

A year has passed since the Woodsboro killings, and a movie, based on the events, has opened around the country. It is called Slab, and has been made from a book by that insinuating newswoman, Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox). At its premiere, however, two people are stabbed to death.

Someone, it seems, is set to continue the killings. The heroine from Scream, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has tried to move on, and it seems that her life is coming back together. She is enrolled at Windsor College in Drama, and is surrounded by a great group of friends. Our young protagonist is in high demand, for even the snootiest soriety house on campus wants her to pledge membership. Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), the other survivor from Woodsboro, is also at Windsor, in the film school.

As the news of the murders filter through, Sidney’s patched up life is shattered again. A number of reporters arrive immediately and, of course, the intrepid Gale Weathers is among their number. She is flanked by Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), the man originally charged with the murder of Sidney’s mother in Scream who has been freed largely because of Gail Weather’s book. Also arriving on the scene is Dewey Riley (David Arquette), and this completes the quartet of the survivors from Scream.

The tension (and the body count) builds, and no-one is safe, nor is anyone not a suspect. There are some terrific moments, including a great but brief scene where the film students discuss the merits of various sequels in cinematic history.

There are some truly terrifying moments where Sidney and her best friend, played by Elise Neal, have to climb over the unconscious killer in a wrecked car. The film within a film gag works well, and the dark brooding finale in the drama theatre is breathtaking.

Scream 2's script is great, the actors marvellous and Craven proves that he is the master of the genre. What can I say: he made me jump!
Bring on Scream 3!

- Michael Gordon-Brown